One of UB’s flagship programs, the Globalizing UB Project, which studies Political Behavior in the Perspective of East Java Subculture in collaboration with the Indopol Survey (Indonesia Political Survey and Consulting) survey institution. Indopol presented the results of the joint survey at the Seminar on Political Behavior in the Digital Era in the Perspective of East Java Subculture, Thursday (12/12/2024), in B Building of the Faculty of Administrative Sciences.
This study is a theme carried by Novy Setia Yunas, S.IP., M.IP (lecturer at FISIP) and Andhyka Muttaqin, S.AP., M.AP (lecturer at FIA) and is part of the Globalizing UB program. Both presented two discussants, namely Dr. Riyanto, M. Hum (field of Culture & Anthropology) and Wawan Sobar, S.IP., MA., Ph.D. (field of Politics).
The findings of the Indopol regional election survey in East Java itself uses a subcultural perspective. The Indopol survey divides society into 5 subcultures. These subcultures include Arek which includes Malang, Surabaya to Jombang. The Mataraman subculture which includes Ponorogo, Madiun, Kediri, Bojonegoro to Blitar. The Madura subculture, the Pantura subculture which includes Lamongan and Tuban and the Pandalungan subculture which includes Probolinggo, Jember, Situbondo to Banyuwangi.
The findings obtained from the Indopol Survey showed that the majority of people determine their political choices based on the figure of the candidate pair with a total of 39.5% and the work program with a total of 35.88%. Ratno Sulistiyanto, Executive Director of the Indopol Survey, also explained that social media has a big role in influencing the choices of the majority of the people of East Java.
“The influence of social media on political choices is quite large. So, when we look deeper into how social media influences us, it is 49.75 percent,” he said.
This has an impact on society, where survey findings show that people or parties around their environment no longer have much influence on political choices. People or parties around the environment such as fathers, husbands, siblings, community organizations and community leaders were only found to be less than 9.5%.
Wawan Sobari, S.IP., MA., Ph.D., who is also a lecturer at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences UB, explained that the way politics is now has changed. With the shift to a digital system and the emergence of social media, Algorithms and Artificial Intelligence have changed the political map. He said that social media is one of the determining factors in political choices.
“The assumption is that social media can be one of the determinants for spreading information, building emotional involvement and mobilizing the masses in elections. Mobilization in this case means persuading voters,” he explained.
However, social media as a determining factor in political choices is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, social media can bring voters closer to candidates, but social media can also distance them from candidates through black campaigns. [romi/sitirahma/UB PR/ Trans. Iir]
